It had been a normal day for our friendly neighborhood web-slinger. A few car chases halted, a couple of armed robberies foiled, and many innocent lives saved in the process. Most recently, he had stopped a drug deal involving a group of minors from happening. He was just on one of his returning patrol routes when his phone went off. He flipped up from his web-swinging and perched on the ledge of a building near a few stone gargoyles. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out his still ringing phone. He was a bit out of breath to notice who was calling, so he just answered with a curious 'hello."

"Happy Birthday, Man!" a voice said excitedly on the other end of the phone.

"Ned!" Peter exclaimed, "hey thanks, dude! Are you coming home soon?"

"Yeah man, can you believe it?" Ned answered gaily. "Me and my family are laying over in Houston before we fly home."

"When will that be?"

"Tonight"

"Really!?!" Peter said excitedly.

"Yeah bro, I thought I made it clear that were in Houston right now."

"Ned, that's awesome" Peter said, standing-up to relieve the small burn in his legs from crouching to long. He was way too excited to know that his best friend was coming back, and he just had to release this energy in some way. "Hey, Stony" he said to one of the gargoyles that stood at the edge of the roof, "did you hear that, Ned's coming home!"

Ned had an awkward chuckle on the other end at Peter's strange declaration of excitement. "Dude, are you talking to a gargoyle?"

"Well, when you're ten stories in the air and wearing your superhero costume, there's not many people you can tell about it."

"Wow bro, I feel bad." Peter scrunched his face in confusion, making the lenses of his mask squint. "Why?" "Cause' I've been gone so long that you've started hanging out with creepy stone figures to keep yourself company" Ned said jokingly, which Peter couldn't help but smile at.

"Oh, you have no idea man" Peter replied, playing along with the joke. "What time do you get in?"

"Around 11:30ish" Ned said, his excitement drowning a bit as he spoke. Peter groaned a bit, upset that he wasn't going to be able to see his best friend on his birthday. "I know man" Ned continued when he heard his friend's disappointment. "It's so late that I won't be able to see you. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

"Not really, no" Peter answered. "You want to hang?"

"Yes man, yes!" he answered as if he had been anticipating this. "I need to escape my family for a day. I don't know how much longer I can go." Ned was being truthful in what he said. A solid minute with Peter would've honestly been enough after two full months stuck in constant supervision of his parents and extended family. "So how's your day been, man? How does it feel to be 16?" Ned added, spinning the conversation back to Peter's birthday.

"It doesn't feel much different to be honest" Peter started, "but the day has been pretty good so far. May made a quick breakfast before she left for work, and I've been doing spider-stuff since then."

"Oh that's cool" Ned replied. "I gotta say though, I've missed being the guy-in-the-chair. How's are things without me?"

"Eh" Peter sighed, "it's been okay. I can handle most things and Karen's been helpful, but she gets annoying sometimes." Peter didn't really think Karen was annoying. It had just been getting tiresome when she would make a comment about a new addition to Peter's life. And Peter knew that he wasn't ready to let Ned know about this new addition.

Ned chuckled in response, "I'll be sure to thank her for that when we get back to things."

"I can't wait for you come back, man. I miss you" Peter smiled underneath the mask.

"I miss you too, dude. I should probably let you get back to it. Happy Birthday again!"

"Thanks, Ned" Peter said. "Have a safe flight." And with that, the two friends said their goodbyes and ended their call. As Peter brought the phone away from his mask, he stared out to the horizon as the light orange hue of the late afternoon sky clashed with the violet night. The sight of the smooth flowing traffic on Interstate 495 and the feeling if the cool summer breeze tugging at the fabric of his costume stimulating the calmness of the moment.

"I gotta tell you, Mr. Gargoyle" Peter spoke, "That was probably the best surprise I've received on my birthday." Peter lowered him down to the level of the statue's face, but kept his body facing the horizon. "Unless you can find another way to surprise me. Any ideas?" He turned his head to find a stern eagle's head looking over the streets below, obviously not able to answer the youthful web-slinger's question.

"Eh, you're probably right. Ned coming home is already the highlight of my night." His voice escalated as he leaped from his spot on the ledge and into the streets. "Catch ya later!" he shouted to the stone figure as he dove and fired a web to the side of one of the taller structures ahead of him. He swung around for a good forty-five minutes looking for anything he could do. Save a cat from a tree, play some one-on-one with a few kids, stop a crime, anything that could waste some time before he wanted to go home. Peter knew that there wasn't anything to expect at home. May wouldn't be home til before dark after a long day, and if she was planning to do something for Peter, it wouldn't be happening until much later. If there was anything Peter would like to do if he wasn't swinging around out of boredom, it was to spend time with that new addition to his life: his girlfriend Michelle, or as her friends called her, MJ.

She wasn't actually new in his life, but they're relationship was still fresh and fairly happy. They had been dating for just over a month, frequently going to Michelle's favorite diner as a way to be by themselves. They had recently disclosed this information to their respective parental figures, as they have been suspecting that their friendship had grown into something else. May, of course, was happy to see that they were together. Frank was happy too but has since been stricter with Peter. Nevertheless, they were supportive of the new romantic pair.

Peter would like nothing better than to be with her right now and tell her about Ned coming home. Unfortunately, she and her father were tied-up with work at the community center until late. It was an unfortunate alignment of scheduling, but Frank had asked him to not interfere with her work hours. Even though he had also offered Peter a job at the center, but more on that later.

So, with no May or MJ 'til later, all Peter could do was swing around and look for something to do until the sun has obscured itself behind the Manhattan skyline. There was, however, not as much activity going on as there normally would be. If he was doing anything, he was posing for pictures for people that shouted his name from the street.

After the sun had set, he swung back to his apartment, entering through his bedroom window like any other night out. It's dark in his room as he lets the suit slip off him. "May, I'm home" he shouts as he goes to the light switch to turn it on. There is no response from May as he rummages through his dresser to find something to wear. "May..." he shouted again, finished dressing himself in a pair of tan jeans and plaid blue shirt. Again, no response, and with a fix of the collar on his shirt, Peter stepped out of his room to find May.

The hallway was dark, but he didn't bother turning on the light. Tracing the walls as he went, he reached the entrance to the living room observing nothing but darkness still. At this point, Peter was starting to think that May hadn't come home yet, or something was up. "May...?" He called out one last time, before something finally happened.

A thwipping sound came from in front of him, quickly followed by a strong, sticky substance holding his hand on the wall. Peter's eyes widened at the sudden moment, wondering what was going on.

"SURPRISE!!!" a chorus of voices cheered as two dim candle lights illuminated one side of the room. From behind the corner holding a small cake with two candles on it was Aunt May, smiling happily that her surprise had worked. Peter smiled in relief that it was just May being the very best at what she does. And if that involved throwing surprises for her nephew on his sixteenth birthday, then that's what she was what she was going to do, and she wasn't going to do it alone.

Along with May, two other figures appeared from behind the corner, one larger and the other a bit toned. As the candle light grew closer to Peter, the faces of Happy Hogan and Tony Stark appeared. "May, what is this?" Peter smiled.

"Oh, I couldn't help it" May squealed. "It's not every day I get to celebrate your 16th birthday." She presented the small round cake to Peter. It was covered in white icing on the sides and airbrushed with red and blue on the top as an homage to the colors of his suit. In addition, the top was decorated with a web design and a small spider in the upper right-hand side of the web. To finish the look, the two candles inserted on the top was made to make the number sixteen. Peter smiled, loving the cake as he looked back up to the trio in-front of him.

"You guys are awesome, but this isn't really necessary" Peter said modestly. May snorted playfully at this, handing the cake to Happy as she dug into her pocket to pull out her phone. "Oh, don't be silly" she said, "nobody should be unhappy on their birthday."

"N-no" Peter cut her off, "I mean webbing me to the wall." His trapped hand squirmed against the wall as he explained, earning a small chuckle from May and Tony. "Oh, we're sorry hon'" May pouted in her chuckle.

"Don't take it too personally, Peter" Happy added and May hit the record button on her phone, "it was only a joke."

"Yea, okay..." Tony interrupted, "maybe for you guys, but this is so satisfying for me." The billionaire came around May to greet the young boy with a firm hand placement on his shoulder. "Did you do this because it's what I did to you when we met?" Peter huffed in amusement, remembering the time he webbed the invincible Iron Man to his bedroom door because he threatened to tell May his spider secrets. Everyone looked to Tony for an answer, as they did not know that they had been in this situation before. However, that wasn't the only reason.

"Oh, God no" Stark exclaimed. "As much as I would love to get you back for that" he reached for the webbing on Peter's hand and cut him loose with a plastic knife, "this handy work isn't my doing." Peter's face fell into confusion, as he thought for sure that Mr. Stark would be the one to find and figure out his old web-shooters. "Then who?" he asked, looking at three people before him. Tony watched his protege scan the two people next to him as he knowingly waited for a fourth person to emerge from the shadows.

Sneaking up behind Peter, a skinny figure that was slightly taller than him came jumping onto his back and wrapped their arms lovingly around his shoulders. Peter felt a bit of a shock by this, grunting from the sudden force of someone jumping onto him. He held his balance as the newcomer lowered their head against the side of his.

"Gotcha, loser" a voice all too familiar to Peter said and a few curls of their hand brushing against his left eye. Peter looked down to where a pair of hands were gripping him and noticed one of his old web-shooters strapped to the right wrist. Peter smiled, now fully realizing that the one who had webbed him up and jumped onto him, was MJ. He turned to look at her, though a few strands of hair that fell over the right side of her face did get in the way. She shook the curls out of their view of each other and smiled at each other.

"Oh" Peter perked up, "so you're the one." MJ smiled brightly at him being happy to see her. "I thought you had work?" Peter continued, sounding more like a question.

"That was a cover-up for this" she answered. "May and I have been planning this for the past couple of days."

"A couple days!?!" Peter echoed excitedly, looking from Michelle to May as he did. May was still recording everything, including the still surprised expression on Peter's face. She smiled plainly in defeat to his discovery. Peter couldn't believe it, not in a bad way. He was incredibly content with everything. He was just dumbfounded to know that they were able to pull it off without him ever finding out. He spluttered a few sounds, before MJ grew a little impatient with his adorkable-self. "Oh, just blow out the candles already. Nobody likes a waxy cake."

Happy brought the cake in his hands at a distance at which Peter could blow out the candles, and with a reluctant smile, Peter blew out the melting candles. As the light of the flame left the room, a few cheers came from the people surrounding the humble boy. A pair of lips also found the side of Peter's head, making his cheeks glow in a bright blush as MJ pulled back and hopped off his back.

The lights turned on and he turned to face her as he was able to move freely again. "You are so dead later" he said to her.

"Looking forward to it" she grinned playfully and went to help May in the kitchen.

*** *** *** ***

"So how've you been, kid?" Tony said as he, Happy, and Peter sat themselves on the couch.

"Uh... pretty good, I think."

"Did things work out at the Bugle?" Happy asked, to which Peter looked at him in confusion as to how he knew about the Bugle job. He asked why and Happy explained that May had mentioned it to him went he came to visit her when she was in the hospital.

"Oh" quirked Peter, "I got the job, but I was never actually got the chance to start."

"Why is that?" Happy asked, to which Tony snorted. "Because their publisher's attributions are hostile and full of slander, and it cost him the integrity of his business" Stark exclaimed. "Honestly kid, you would've hated that job after a month."

"So, the magazine was put out of business before you could even have a chance to start" Happy said to make sense of everything. Peter nodded indifferently, obviously bummed about not getting the job, but content that he was at least considered before everything went down. "So, are you looking for a new job?"

"Kinda..." Peter stammered, "there's currently an offer on the table, but I want to think about it before I make a decision."

"For what job?" Happy asked, and Peter shook his head. "I don't want to say until I've made my decision" he said, to which Happy nodded understandably. "You know I can always whip-up some kind of position for you at the facility" Tony said, "or I could have Pepper find you something within the company."

"Uh, thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Stark"

Not long after, May and Michelle came back out with small platters of appetizers and bowls of dips and fruit to divulge in as they all sat down and chatted about anything that would come to mind. It didn't take long for Michelle to collapse in the free spot next to Peter. May and Happy took the couch that was smaller than the one the others were seated upon. To Peter, this was just a wonderful night. Not only was he told that Ned was on his way home, but he got to spend the final hours of his birthday with some of the best people in his life. And he knew he was now correcting his previous thoughts, but THIS was the highlight of the night.

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A/N- Okay, I know that this is the second part that I've posted, but I consider this my first official chapter. I know, prologues are (to a point) part of the story, but the first bit was just a way to set the story in motion. Anywho, there's the first chapter ladies and gents, and I hope you all enjoyed it.

First thing to talk about: NED. My goal for this story is to spend as much time with Ned as I can, since he was MIA in the first story. And considering how much he has missed while he was gone, makes for a really interesting story. Otherwise, thought it would be fun to do a small little birthday gathering for Peter.

The party could have been longer, but we need to get this story moving, so fill in the blanks with your imagination and comment what you think would have happened!!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Leave a vote if you did, and don't forget to express your thoughts in the comments.

Back to the schedule I had in the Spring, a new chapter every two weeks. Until next time, BYE!!!

ALSO, AN EDIT OF MY SIDE-NOTE FROM LAST WEEK:
SPIDEY'S BACK IN THE MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe it guys, and we're getting a new solo movie in July 2021. No need to worry about certain characters not being able to show up!! So more Spideychelle, more Ned, more awesome villains, more Happy, more everything. Just hope they give May some actual depth. Are you excited?!?!! Caz you know I am. Grab your favorite drink and toast to this wonderful time we live in.